WA's Inspector of Custodial Services has raised concerns about the "unprecedented population growth" in the state's prisons, which is putting increasing pressure on the system and seeing more Indigenous prisoners being held off-Country.

On Tuesday the inspector, Eamon Ryan, released the report for the 2024 inspection of Greenough Regional Prison – which holds both men and women of all security classifications.

The inspection found Greenough, in WA's Mid West region, had "a future-focussed leadership team" who had "shown agility in a challenging period of unprecedented population growth across the custodial estate".

The inspector noted that population pressures had led to an influx of off-Country First Nations men who required additional cultural supports, and the relocation of women from their purpose-built accommodation.

Mr Ryan's report found that with the pressures of an increased population, Greenough was "struggling to provide people in custody a meaningful daily routine".

"Employment opportunities were lacking, there were delays in delivering offender treatment programs, and there were limited recreational opportunities within the accommodation areas. Infrastructure limitations and staffing shortfalls contributed to this challenge," the inspector's office said in a statement.

Mr Ryan acknowledged Greenough's management and staff have "a growing appetite for change" and that "improvement was evident across many of the areas we inspected", but problems remain.

"However, record increases in the Western Australian prison population have had a significant impact at Greenough – particularly for women and off-Country First Nations men. Up to 20 per cent of the male population were from the Pilbara or Kimberley regions. They shared their experience of loss being away from home," he said.

"Women were moved out of their specialist women's precinct in early 2024, before returning to Unit 5 at Greenough. Despite the efforts of local staff, Unit 5 does not offer the same level of amenity or access to services that was available in Unit 4.

"Women and off-Country men in Greenough are the face of system wide pressures and should remain at the forefront of efforts to improve their situation".

Noongar law academic and human rights expert Dr Hannah McGlade told National Indigenous times that "we see are seeing significant numbers of Aboriginal men from Pilbara and Kimberley taken out of Country to Greenough prison in Geraldton".

"This is highly inappropriate and unsafe," she said.

"As Aboriginal incarceration grows, we know this is caused by continuation of outdated and regressive laws that see too many people incarcerated when they have not been found guilty by a court of law. The Royal Commission into Deaths in Custody recommended incarceration is a matter of last resort only but that is not the case today.

"The Aboriginal Justice Advisory Committee must be separated from government as an independent body to ensure much needed reforms to address the shocking and increasing levels of Aboriginal incarceration today."

The WA Department of Justice said it welcomed the inspector's report.

"Greenough accommodates predominantly medium and minimum-security adult male and female prisoners. OICS inspected the facility last year and found a proactive workforce maintaining safe and settled prison operations and positive interactions with prisoners," the Department said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Department noted the prison's management was "lauded" for proactively seeking to address issues identified by the Office of the Inspector, including getting input from off-Country prisoners on further support that could be offered; appointing selected prisoners to run recreation activities, ordering additional exercise equipment; and consulting with other prisons on providing better food options.

The Department said Greenough benefited from having an Aboriginal Visitors Scheme staff member and a Prison Support Officer, who OICS said had "the potential to contribute to the wellbeing of prisoners, especially in a regional prison where First Nations people are over-represented".

Department Director General Kylie Maj said the Department was striving to bolster staff levels at Greenough and work opportunities for its prisoners.

"Recruitment processes were underway for several positions including an Employment Co Ordinator and VSOs, which would expand eligible prisoners' engagement in the community through our prisoner employment and Section 95 work programs," she said.

"Community engagement such as the fire risk mitigation program in collaboration with the Department of Fire and Emergency Services sees eligible minimum-security Greenough S95 prisoners undertake hundreds of hours of work aimed at protecting the community and developing job skills."

Noongar justice advocate Megan Krakouer urged the inspector to "stop mincing words", and described conditions within WA's justice system as "putrid, brutal, and barbaric".

"I encourage him to do right by prisoners and start speaking out on behalf of them instead of being conservative with his words to find some mythical middle ground which keeps us in a whirlpool of despair," she told National Indigenous Times.

Human rights advocate Gerry Georgatos told National Indigenous Times that despite being one of the world's richest countries, Australia's prisons were among the worst, evidenced by "the high recidivism rates which see more than half the prison population returning at some point".

"I have seen too many people broken down further by the system, instead of being lifted up," he said.